Berkeley Clam Chowder – Revisited
From elgourmand2 7 years ago
- 1 Hr. to make
- Serves 4-6
I posted a recipe for Berkeley Clam Chowder a year, or so, ago. We get terrific fresh clams here, at a bargain price, and we love clam chowder, so I make this about once a month. I kept trying to make this using one pot and it was good but just not quite what I wanted so I tried two pots and that makes the Berkeley Clam Chowder I remember. Read more Haven’t had a canned clam or canned clam chowder in over 25 years but did read the label on a can of soup and was not favorably impressed. Steaming your own fresh clams is a bit of work but the flavour is just fantastic. See less
Ingredients
- • 3 or 4 strips of bacon, cut into bits. shopping list
- • 3 Tbs. butter. shopping list
- • 2 Cups russet potatoes, diced to sugar cube size. shopping list
- • ½ cup chopped onion. shopping list
- • 4 tsp. flour. shopping list
- • 10 - 15 oz (1½-2 cups) clam meat, from the fresh clams you just steamed, or canned, if you must. shopping list
- • 1 cup of clam juice, from those same fresh clams or bottled. shopping list
- • 1 small stalk of celery, chopped. shopping list
- • 2 cups whole milk. shopping list
- • 1 cup heavy cream. shopping list
- • 1 small Bay leaf. shopping list
- • 1 tsp. dried parsley, or some fresh, chopped. Other spices as you wish. shopping list
- • Salt & FG pepper to taste. shopping list
How to make it
- 1. Steam up a mess of clams. Take the meat out of the shell and reserve the juice. You can do this ahead of time.
- 2. In a med/large pot, Fry the bacon until the grease is rendered out but the bacon is not quite crisp.
- 3. Remove the bacon and excess fat to a to a bowel. There should only be about 1 Tbs. of bacon grease left in the pot.
- 4. Sauté the potatoes, onion & celery until onion is translucent.
- 5. With a slotted spoon, remove potatoes, etc. to a small pot and add the clam juice and bay leaf and any spices you’ve chosen and cook until the potatoes are just cooked through but firm. Remove the bay leaf and set aside.
- 6. Add a bit of bacon drippings, to make 1 Tbs., and the 3 Tbs. Butter to the large pot & swish around a bit.
- 7. Add the 4 tsp flour and sauté until smooth and bubbly.
- 8. Add the clam juice from the small pot the milk and cream and heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and creamy. Adjust consistency.
- 9. Add the clams and the potato mixture and stir to combine.
- 10. Add any remaining bacon drippings, OPTIONAL but I like it.
- 11. Stir & heat through until just about to simmer. Be sure to stir constantly. Careful here or you’ll curdle the cream.
- 12. Turn off the heat.
- 13. This is an excellent time to add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
- 14. Serve while hot, garnishing with parsley or cilantro. See Photo
- A fresh green salad & some crusty French or chewy Italian bread goes well with this. I had some fresh, homemade Naan on hand when I made the last batch of this and that went really well.
- This chowder is rich & creamy so, if you like your chowder on the light side, add some milk or clam juice
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